Robert Findlay (1859–1951) was a Scottish-born

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He was born in

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and moved to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in 1885. He won the competition to expand the first Sun Life Building and was the architect for that project, which he began in 1890. The Sun Life company left that building for the current

Sun Life Building The Sun Life Building is a historic , 24-storey office building at 1155 Metcalfe Street on Dorchester Square in the city's downtown core of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The building was completed in 1931 after three stages of construction. It was b ...

in 1913.

Career

Findlay cultivated an extensive practice, working in later years with his son, Frank. He designed several mansions in the

Golden Square Mile The Golden Square Mile (, ), also known as the Square Mile, is the nostalgic name given to an urban neighbourhood developed principally between 1850 and 1930 at the foot of Mount Royal, in the west-central section of downtown Montreal in Quebec, Ca ...

and a number of other large private houses in

Westmount Westmount () is a city on the Island of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is an enclave of the city of Montreal, with a population of 19,658 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Westmount is home to schools, an arena, a pool, a public li ...

, as well as Westmount City Hall. His private clients included four members of the

Molson family The Molson family of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was founded by John Molson, who immigrated to Canada in 1782 from his home in Lincolnshire, England. They are considered to be one of Canada's most prominent business families with a combined net w ...

, Robert Wilson Reford, F.E. Meredith, Charles Meredith, J.K.L. Ross, Sir Edward Beatty, Charles Francis Smithers, A.A. Bronfman and Sir

Mortimer Davis Sir Mortimer Barnett Davis (February6, 1866March22, 1928) was a Jewish Canadian businessman and philanthropist. The mansion that he built in Montreal's Golden Square Mile has been renamed ''Purvis Hall'' and is today owned by McGill University. ...

. Many of the Golden Square Mile homes that he designed were later purchased by

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

, including the Sir Mortimer Davis House (now Purvis Hall). Findlay designed the Calvary Congregational Church (1911) in Westmount, located at the intersection of Greene Street and Dorchester Boulevard (demolished in 1961). He also designed the base for Montreal's ''

Lion of Belfort The ''Lion of Belfort'', in Belfort, France, is an 1880 monumental sculpture by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''). Overview Finished in 1880, it is made entirely of red san ...

'' monument in

Dorchester Square Dorchester Square, originally Dominion Square, is a large urban square in downtown Montreal. Together with Place du Canada, the area is just over or of manicured and protected urban parkland bordered by René Lévesque Boulevard to the south ...

. Findlay was responsible for the design of Mull Hall (1916) on Lakeshore Road, later known as Stewart Hall, and for the Alice Graham Hallward House (1925) at 3605

Mountain Street Rue de la Montagne, also known as Mountain Street, is a north–south street located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It starts at Wellington Street in the south and continues to above Doctor Penfield Avenue in the north, where it stops in ...

, known from 1971 to 2004 as McGill's Martlet House (not to be confused with McGill's current Martlet House at 1430 Peel Street, which was built by in 1928).

Gallery

File:Davis House -1900- - Notman Archive - McCord Museum.gif, Sir Mortimer Davis House (1900) File:Harold E. Stearns House, Montreal 01.jpg, Harold Stearns House (1904) File:Maison William Alexander Molson 01.jpg, William A. Molson House (1905) File:George Sumner House, Westmount 14.jpg, George Sumner House (1906) File:Maison Charlotte R. Harrisson (Macarow) 1.JPG, Charlotte R. Harrisson House (1912) File:Maison Herbert Molson 3.JPG, Herbert Molson House (1912) File:Charles Wesley Maclean House, Pointe-Claire 11.jpg, Stewart Hall (1916) File:Harrieth Frothingham House, Montreal 01.jpg, Harrieth Frothingham House (1916) File:Westmount City Hall 1.jpg, Westmount City Hall (1922) File:Alice Graham House, Montreal 13.jpg, Alice Graham Hallward House (1925) File:Maison Joseph-Aldéric Raymond 06.jpg, Joseph-Aldéric Raymond House (1929) File:Maison Abe Bronfman 4.JPG, Abe Bronfman House (1931)

References

External links

McGill archives profile
(1993 thesis abstract)
Stewart HallWestmount Public Library: chronology
* ttp://cac.mcgill.ca/campus/buildings/Martlet_House.html Martlet House (formerly Hallward House) from Virtual McGillbr>Historic Places in Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Findlay, Robert 1859 births 1951 deaths Scottish architects Scottish emigrants to Canada People from Inverness Architects from Montreal Anglophone Quebec people